The present invention relates to a tool display method for a numerically controlled lathe, and more particularly to a method for displaying the configuration of a machining tool used in such a lathe.
An NC (numerical control) unit is often used to control the position of a machining tool with respect to a workpiece to machine the latter. With an NC unit, products of intricate configuration can be readily manufactured with high accuracy while achieving excellent productivity.
A conventional tool display method used with an NC-unit-operated lathe will be described.
A conventional configuration display device of an NC-unit-operated lathe displays the configuration of a workpiece 1, the final configuration 2 of the workpiece 1, a display frame 3, a tool post 4 and a cutter 4a as shown in FIG. 1. The configurations of the tool post 4 and the cutter 4a are displayed using fixed patterns although they are actually somewhat variable depending on the type of the tool and how it is used, and sometimes can be much different from the actual ones.
In the case where, for instance, a workpiece is machined with a tool shaped as shown in FIG. 2A, the machining operation is carried out as shown in FIG. 2B. However, since fixed patterns are employed to display tools, the tool is actually displayed as shown in FIG. 2C, for instance. Therefore, the positional relationship between the tool and the workpiece is as shown in FIG. 2D; that is, the tool actually interferes with the workpiece.
Furthermore, the tool mounting position and direction are also displayed by fixed patterns. Therefore, the conventional configuration display device suffers from a problem that the actual tool mounting position and direction cannot be accurately determined from the displayed configuration.
With the conventional method for displaying the configuration of a tool for an NC-unit-controlled lathe as described above, the configuration of a cutter mounted on the tool post may be closely similar to the displayed configuration, although the latter may be used as a symbol for the cutter. Thus, it is considerably difficult to determine the tool mounting direction and position from the displayed configuration, which makes the operation of the lathe intricate and results in erroneous operations of the lathe.